Looking for an easy model program

[Ginger George]

hello, I'm a n00b when it come to making 3D models/models animations and textureing.

 

So i'm looking for an easy to use program hoping all-in-one

 

any suggestions are welcome.

 

many thanks

[DudeAwesome]

if you start from scratch use blender. its probably not the easiest one but its free and when you have to start from scratch it doesnt matter.

 

there is also Silo2 and 3D Coat.

[Josh]

3D Coat looks nice and it's also on Steam:

http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/blog/119/entry-1165-3d-coat-column-game-making-of/

[cassius]

ac3d is far easier than blender and its cheap. Bu no animation.

Silo 2 is also good but again no animation.

[Ginger George]

cheers for the quick replies, i'll try out blender, free sounds pretty good and keep the other in mind

[YouGroove]

For sculpting as free tool you have the best : Sculptris

And you can find for some 50$ or less some basic Wacom Bamboo tablet that will make sculpting ultra natural and fast compared to a mouse

 

 

 

 

[Patrick]

For a complete package I would recommend Blender to someone who has never used another 3d modelling application before, its probably the best thing to start using, its forever growing and has a great community for support.

 

If you want something that is a paid for application I use Maya and would recommend that although its pricy. I use it mostly for my rigging and animation work however the modelling tools are quite adequate.

 

I would like to ask what you mean by complete though? (modelling, uv, rigging & animation?)

 

You can always use a couple of applications alongside each other which is what a lot of people do and many industry artists will tell you is not a bad thing. I find that 3D Coat is likely the best most affordable option out there for sculpting high detailed organic and hard surface objects and creatures, it definitely competes with Zbrush although they have a few differences. (I use both so I'm talking form what I know) If you use Blender you can utilize the sculpting that software offers but in my opinion its not nearly as great as 3D Coat, its definitely getting there, but its not there yet

 

I find myself using 3D Coat (right now) more for the UV and retopology tools than the sculpting, another thing that Blender has (the retopo tools) which Maya 2014 does too, I think that you'll find at the end of the day it all comes down to personal preference and how much you can or want to spend on the stuff.

 

There are cheaper solutions aside from the free Blender just encase you cannot get on with it as I know many people just can't...

 

Silo2: (Affordable but paid)

A great modelling solution that offers Uv tools and a set of retopology tools

 

Nvil: (free & Paid)

This is solely a modelling application, but you can use Roadkill alongside it for the UV requirements. A very nice and customizable application that I would happily recommend to people that are having a hard time with Blender.

 

There are others and I will likely go and make a full post about them with more information in a short while as to help others looking for this type of thing but I think that you will find it hard to come across a more complete package than Blender without paying a nice lump sum of cash. Like 3D Coat, its great for sculpting, UVing and Retopologising but not so great for things like creating lower poly models, it also has amazing tools to paint on your mesh very nicely too, I will make a tutorial on this very soon! So using this tool alongside your favorite modelling application will only prove beneficial.

 

Also, I love using Sculptris as a free sculpting application, its truly amazing and probably the easiest way to jump into the world of 3d sculpting, like YouGroove has just said, grab a cheap wacom tablet and have fun with it I think you'll find yourself in need of a graphics tablet if you plan on creating good textures and sculpting on meshes.

 

 

I hope this helps a little!

[YouGroove]

You forgot anotehr not so well advertised , but very capable but expensive also : MODO.

 

Anyway i think Blender and sculptris are a good start and FREE package

 

In Sculptris , what i found crazy about sculptris is that no people show videos or use in their models , multiple ojects as you can work with several (like character and armors as other objects)

 

For Blender, dive on Youtube and search basics tutorials for 2.6 and above.

[cassius]

Blender is not an "easy" 3d app.It is unconventional and a bit of an oddball. Yes it has most of what you want (if you can find it)

I had to google to find "select all" and "undo" and a number of other things which are easy to access in other 3d apps.

 

Blender is good but not easy.

 

Eit: Iwould reccomed gmax but for the lack of export options. Its old but its free.

[Patrick]

You forgot anotehr not so well advertised , but very capable but expensive also : MODO.

 

Anyway i think Blender and sculptris are a good start and FREE package

 

In Sculptris , what i found crazy about sculptris is that no people show videos or use in their models , multiple ojects as you can work with several (like character and armors as other objects)

 

For Blender, dive on Youtube and search basics tutorials for 2.6 and above.

 

I've done this and made videos... I think they are somewhere on youtube but not too sure, I may have taken them down some time ago.

 

I love MODO, but its too expensive to just up and buy and the steam edition isnt worth it in my opinion.

[shadmar]

For basic modelling I use Silo2 (which is very easy to use), but be aware it does not support animation and is not actively being developed. (and not free)

[Guppy]

For Blender, dive on Youtube and search basics tutorials for 2.6 and above.

 

I have to agree with cassius - blender is down right hostile at times. how ever once you get the hang of it it's really quite great, and you have every thing you need in one single app.

 

If your picking up blender for the first time then go through you will want to go through chapter 2&3 a coupe of times before doing anything else

http://cgcookie.com/blender/cgc-courses/blender-basics-introduction-for-beginners/

 

 

ps: I just noticed my "l" button is broken so I had to manually copy&paste it in... sorry if I missed a few.

[Ginger George]

cheers for the great feed back so I thought I'll show what I've done so far. I did watch a lot of youtube on blender, as it's all new to me it was going over my head a bit, going to try out other programs to see what they are like

 

 

going to add more polygons then add a subsurf mod (plus sort out the feet a bit)

 

 

i didn't want to make things hard for myself so the hand has got three fingers and a thumb

[cassius]

That looks good. You must be a natural.

[ChrisV]

Another great program (maybe less known), is Hexagon (which is at version 2.5) now. I think you can download it for FREE!

I mostly use 3DCoat (sculpting, uv mapping, painting, etc...), blender (for rigging, modeling, uv mapping, etc...), Truespace (also a great program, and FREE, only problem is, there's not much support), and Hexagon.

 

I guess each has it's preferences. Best is to try out the free 3D modeling programs available.

 

Here's a list (not complete) of more good 3D programs:

 

- Carrara 8 (not free, but affordable)

- Wings 3D (open source, free)

- AC3D (free to try, buy for commercial use)

- Cheetah 3D (low price, MAC only!)

- LightWave (not cheap, but free to try. Amazing program, though ;-))

- RealSoft 3D (affordeable, free to try, available for Linux, Mac, Windows.)

- Shade 3D (free to try, affordable, Windows and Mac)

- 3D Crafter (free to try, affordable)

 

There are lots more, though.

[cassius]

Hexagon is quite good. I got it when it cost mney I don't know if the free version is fully featured, but maybe it is.

[tjheldna]

I recommend Modo it's worth every cent. Can export to Leadwerks with animations no probs.

 

One cool thing about it is there are Windows, OSX and Linux installs.

[knocks]

Glad you're happy with modo tjheldna.

[tjheldna]

Glad you're happy with modo tjheldna.

 

I haven't even scratched the surface on what it can do also. Just started playing around with the topology tools... Real nice. It just has everything I need and works well with Leadwerks.